


Assume Crash Positions

by gammadolphin



Series: from the same star [4]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Missing Scene, Star Trek Beyond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:42:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7553611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gammadolphin/pseuds/gammadolphin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With as much effort as it took to get Bones behind those controls, you'd think he wouldn't be able to let go of them fast enough once the action was finally over. You'd be wrong. Turns out, he needs a little help.</p><p>Missing scene from the end of Star Trek Beyond. Fits in my soulmate verse but can be read as a standalone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assume Crash Positions

**Author's Note:**

> I saw Beyond about five hours ago and I'm not sure I've had a coherent thought since. It's 5 AM and I can barely see but I couldn't sleep until I'd written this. It's set after the final action sequence. It's a part of my soulmates verse and references the first story, Warning Labels, but you don't really have to read any of those to read this one. Enjoy!

Despite his warnings to the contrary, Leonard does in fact manage to land his borrowed spacecraft without incident. And if they hit the ground a little hard, and bounce a few too many times on impact…well, Jim and Spock know better than to say anything.

Once they’ve finally come to a stop though, he can’t quite make himself release the controls. For all of the cockiness he projected while flying the damn thing, he’s pretty sure that if he tries to let go of the ship, his muscles will just snap rather than relax. Every single one of them is frozen with tension and the remainder of the adrenaline that’s been surging through his system pretty much nonstop. Of course, that might only be partly due to the flying. Watching his soulmate nearly get sucked into space hadn’t done wonders for his stress levels either.

He stares out the tiny viewport, reliving in his mind’s eye the sight of Jim, looking so small and vulnerable against the monstrous backdrop of the opening to empty space, hurtling towards an icy doom. It was just one last close call in a few days full of them, but it’s one Leonard doesn’t think he’ll be forgetting anytime soon.

He’s startled from his recollection as a hand lands on his shoulder, and a kiss is pressed to his temple.

“You know, I know this stunningly attractive Starfleet captain who could pull some strings and get you switched to a piloting position,” Jim says in his ear. “You’d have to go through a little extra training of course, but in a year or two…”

Leonard finally relinquishes his grip, some of the tension slowly draining from his body. It’s over. He got to Jim in time, and that’s what matters.

“You’re hilarious, Jim,” he grunts, clambering off the strange pilot saddle. “Maybe you should think about a career as a comedian.”

He turns to give Jim a mock glare, and something stutters painfully in his chest.

“Look at you,” he murmurs, lifting his hands to cup Jim’s battered and bloody face in the gentlest of touches. Any traces of pity he’d been feeling for the ill-fated Captain Edison evaporate in a hurry.

Jim gives him a small smile, tired but genuine, covering Leonard’s hands with his own.

“I’m all right, Bones,” he promises.

Oddly enough, Leonard believes him. There’s a peace in Jim’s eyes that’s been missing these past few months, a serenity that can only come from having rediscovered one’s purpose. It’s a comforting change. Leonard had been feeling rather useless as he watched the weight on Jim’s soul grow, watched him get lost somewhere increasingly out of reach. Compared to that, fixing bruises will be a breeze.

He leans in to kiss Jim. It’s the first real one they’ve had time for since this whole mess began, and they both give it their all. Jim’s hands slide down to Leonard’s hips and he pulls him close, bodies pressed together until Leonard can feel Jim’s heart beating against his own. It’s the affirmation they both desperately need after what they’ve just been through.

They finally pull apart, but Leonard leaves his arms slung loosely around Jim’s neck, not ready to let go of him just yet.

“I’m all right,” Jim repeats, his eyes soft. Then he grins. “Thanks to you. Which, when you think about it, is really thanks to me.”

“Oh it is, is it?” Leonard scoffs, letting a grin of his own stretch across his face as his relief finally begins to set in in earnest.

“Yes, it is,” Jim insists cheerfully. “Considering I’m the one who made you take that piloting course at the Academy.”

“Now, hang on just a minute. That’s not how I-”

“Come on, I practically had to confess my undying love for you to even get you to start the shuttle engine on your test day.”

“Is that what you thought you were doing? Because let me tell you, pal, you could have been a lot clearer. Would’ve saved us both some unnecessary and undignified pining. The only reason I started my test when I did was because I wanted you to quit pestering me.”

Jim’s hand flies to his chest, and his eyes widen dramatically.

“You wound me, Bones.”

“Part of my ongoing project to grow you a thicker skin,” Leonard says, eyeing once more the scrapes on his soulmate’s face.

Jim rolls his eyes, but his expression softens a little. He takes Leonard’s hand and bends to kiss the faded soulmark on the back of it. When he lifts his head again though, there’s a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

“You know you only passed your flying test because your evaluator didn’t want another spin on the vomit comet, right?”

Leonard tugs his hand free and whacks Jim with it.

“I did perfectly fine on my test,” he says, even though they both know it’s a blatant lie. “And you’ll notice that nobody even came close to hurling this time around.”

“I don’t know, your passenger was looking a little green.”

Leonard stares at Jim for a beat, and then another. His soulmate’s eyes are sparkling with amusement and something deeper, and one eyebrow is quirked in a challenge.

“Goddammit,” Leonard says finally. “I’ve got nothing. Nothing. Goddamn green-blooded hobgoblin. Making my life difficult without even being here.”

Jim laughs, and Leonard can’t help but join in.

Once they’ve both caught their breath, Jim slides an arm around Leonard’s waist and tugs him gently out of the cockpit. Spock has already abandoned the cabin, but he won’t have gone far. Leonard will nab him and fix him up properly before he can slink off under the guise of official business. He and Jim can commiserate together while Leonard refuses to release them under pain of whatever new threats he can think of today. It’ll be a grand old time.

After that will come the storm, he knows. There will be the grim work of identifying all the lost crew and notifying families and sorting through the chaos that inevitably follows an incident like this. But they’ll weather it, like they always do. And for now, Leonard will do what he knows best: take care of the people he loves.

Jim pauses before they reach the exit hatch. He’s silent for a beat, and then he turns to Leonard.

“You were amazing today, Bones,” he tells him softly, sincerely. “Seven years ago you had to drink to get through a simple shuttle flight, and today you helped save countless people from behind the controls of an unfamiliar spaceship without batting an eye.”

Well there may not have been any eye batting, but Leonard is pretty sure the left one was twitching sporadically there. Still, he appreciates the sentiment. Jim leaves his pride unvoiced, but it shines through their bond. Leonard swallows hard and returns the feeling, and Jim smiles slightly. There’s still something solemn in his gaze though, and Leonard studies him.

“You’re staying, aren’t you?” he asks quietly. “As a captain?”

It’s a surprisingly pleasant realization. Leonard would follow Jim anywhere, including to an administrative position on this gigantic breakable snowglobe in space that is admittedly a stunning marvel of engineering. But he’s gotten used to the hum of a starship deck beneath his feet, to something new forever on the horizon.

“I think so, Bones,” Jim says slowly. “I think so.” After a moment, his serious expression lifts. “After all, how else am I going to teach you how to fly a starship?”

“Not on your life, Kirk.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to check out [my tumblr](http://drmcbones.tumblr.com/) for more of these losers. And for those of you who have been following this verse, I am still working on the next chapter of That Which Remains, but I just had to write this one.


End file.
